The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1887-06-12

once prepared to carry the white men across, but
the BISHOP surprised them by taking off part of
and bis companions. Teter and Burr followed his
example. The carriers were inclined to protest
1t seemed beneath the dignity of white man to
wade when he might be carried And later in
the same day they came to a larger and deeper
stream, over which bridge had been made
Here the natives surely thought that the old
waiting to be asked the Bishop stripped, gave
his garments to carrier and plunged
H. He swan across, in spite of the
strong current, without difficulty. to the
marvel and delight of the Africans, who
are expert swimmers. The Bishop kept up
this sort of exercise throughout the journey aud
there were many opportunities for it. for the
mountain country abounds in rivers. Here and
theron rope bridge has been thrown across but
such is not often the case.
When they reached the tribe of the chief who
ACCOMPANIED them he impressed a band of men
into the carrying service. as he promised to do
and went back with them to Matadi And at
Lukunga, distant about midway between Matadi
and the pool, the Bishop secured forty more car
riers and a captain, ana sent them back to bring
on the rest of the missionaries and their goods
He thus expected that the last detachment of
his friends would not be more than ten days be-
hind him in arriving at Kimpoko, village at
the eastern corner of the pool where the govern
ment had granted him tract of land and
building
A few miles out of Lukunga the Bishop saw
one OF the strangest occurrences that had yet
TRANSFERRED in his presence in Africa. AS he and
his party were descending a mountain they saw
that there was village below them, a market
place surrounded with a large number of houses
1t seemed as If all the village people and many
others from the surrounding country had gath
cred in the market place. The BISHOPS first i'm
preston was that some kind of fair or gem
eral trading was in progress, but, as he came
nearer, he saw that the event was not COM
mercial From his elevated point of view he
could see that several natives were at work dig
ing holes in the center of the market-place.
The attention of the crowd seemed to be divided
between the hole and something else that neither
the Bishop nor his companions could distinguish.
The native carriers said that it looked if there
was to be public execution, whereupon Mr..
Teter tried TO the gallows, and failed. An
execution it proved to be, however, but without
a scaffold. The native Africans have much
moro horrible form of judicial murder than
hanging. The Bishop and his party arrived
the market-place just as the tragedy was con-
summated. They learned the story of the
crime which LED to it, which, briefly, was the
following:
rival man had died in the village, and. as is
frequently the case. the medicine man had been
summoned to declare what. or rather who had
been the cause of it. The doctor, after the
usual demonstrations, oracular utterances,
frenZied dancing and other tomfoolery had fixed
the responsibility for the death upon a captain
of the tribe. The truth undoubtedly was that
this captain had done something to offend the
doctor, who took this way of getting even. The
captain was brought before the King and charged
with the crime of bewitchng the deceased. He
denied the charge, and was then ordered to
drink a cup of q kind of tea made from the sass
wood tree. 1t is deadly poisonous mixture
The medicine man tells the king that il
man who is guilty drinks of it
he will die; but ar innocent man
will not be harmed Whoever drinks,
of course dies Immediately in terrible
agony, and the prestige of the doctor is height
ened accordingly. The captain in this instance
refused TO drink the tea He was sent away
from the Kings presence for day or two pend
ing further consideration of the case, but that
var iOht ha WAS Shn NV tIpk in,
his house After six days of suffering the cap
tain died His friends besought the representa-
tive of the Free State government to interfere
but he hesitated. He was new to his position,
and dared not take very decided measures. So
the King of the tribe bestirred himself. The
dead captain had been a favorite of his, and the
accusation of the doctor had disturbed his
Majesty Nov that the captain had been muir
dered he determined to punish the criminal A
man was arrested and tried for the crime and
found guilty. He was, Of course, condemned to
death.
When the Bishop arrived the hole in the mar
ket-place bad been completed. It was somewhat
object that had attracted the attention of part
OF the crowd was the condemned man himself.
He sat on the ground with his hands tied behind
his back Seven feet in front of him was
young tree that had bean bent over toward him.
The top of the tree had been cut away that
fork made by the two main branches remained
on the slender trunk. The condemned mans
neck was put in this fork and the ends of the
lines were made fast behind his head. The ten
sion of the tree kept constant strain on his
throat, not enough to strange him. but enough
to be painful and to prevent him from making
any motion. He had been sitting thus for hours
watching the preparations for his execution and
enduring the gaze of hundreds of the villagers.
Not far away the King, dressed in gorgeously
coored robe, sat experimenting the operations.
The work progressed in due order,
but without the ceremonious soemnty that
execution in Christian coun-
tries. The King gave his instructions when he
chose to interfere. to a subordinate who trans
ferred them TO the captain in charge of the
workers at the hole. When the diggers climbed
out and laid aside their shovels there
slight pause. aud the crowd gathered closer to
the excavation. Presently the King uttered a
mates actually began the work of execution.
They first cut off the tree in front of the cap
tive's neck, leaving the prongs OF the fork still
tied about him. He was led to the hola~and
ordered into it. Up to this time he had pre-
served o stoicsl expression, but at that moment
he weakened and trembled. He cast a piteous
glance toward the King, ard looked all around
him wildly. One of the execu:ioners fastened
matters by pushing him into the hole. He
fell lin heap on the bottom. and three men
went in after him. They placed him on his
feet, and while held him steady the
others began to pack dirt about his feet. The
workmen left the brink of the hole carefully
shoveled the earth that had been dug up back
again, aud the men inside continued the packing
process. The victim writhed and screamed ter
ribly the work proceeded, and a gag was in
serted in his mouth to still his cries. The peo-
pie, WIN mOrDlu curiosity, crOWutu 10 the cugo
Of the hole. even to the point of interfering with
the workmen, and squad of warriors in armor
drove them back The men in the hole stamped
the earth hard all about the victim, until it was
up to his waist. Then they got out. and the fill
ing in continued more rapidly, and others helped
in the stamping. The hole was originally so
deep that the victims head was more than a foot
below the surface. When his mouth was
reached, care was taken not to fill in around him
un til the rest of the hole had been leveled over
Then n few shovelfuls thrown upon the head
effectually buried the poor fellow, but the work
men were still cautious to note exactly where
the head After all the dirt had been thrown
back and the burial was complete the reason for
their caution became apparent workman
came forward with a long, hardwood pole sharp
ened and tipped with iron at one end. This was
ia serted into the ground directly over the VIC
TINS head. A movable platform was produced,
and men standing on it began to pound the pole
i wn into the ground The horrible object OF
this was to transfx the victim through the
length of his body. The pounding was continued
with mallets until the entire length OF the pole
had been driven into the ground. Then the i'm
nlements that had been used were taken away